Basket-making machine



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' BASKET MAKING MACHINE Filed Aug. 15, 1927 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 CQ W m.

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March 26, 1929'. v E, CRAIG 1,706,440

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BASKET MAKING MMMMM NE Patented Mar. 26, 1929.

, I s UNITED STATES. PATENT oFF cE.

EDWARD CRAIG, OF ST. JOSEPH, MICHIGAN, ASSIGNOR TO .SARANAC AUTOMATIC IA- CHINE CORPORATION, OF BENTON HARBOR, MICHIGAN, A CORPORATION OF DELA- WARE.

BASKET-MAKING MACHINE.

Application med August 15, 1927. Serial no. 212,861.

This invention relates to the manufacture of baskets, and more particularly to the manufacture'of bushel baskets of the kind that has a substantially flat bottom and that has inside andoutside hoops at the top and 7 bottom of the basket.

I Generally stated, the object ofthe invention is to provide improved machlnery whereby a basket of this kind is made by 10 first fabricating the bottom unit, by attaching the sheet material to the upper edge of the inside bottom hoop, and by thereafter assembling staves around the periphery of' the preformed bottom unit, and stapling or otherwise fastening the staves and the outside bottom hoop to the hoop of the preformed bottom unit, and securing theother hoops in place to form a basket which 1s tapered downwardly, which has a'flat top f and a flat bottom.

It is also an object to' provide certain details and features of construction tending to increase the general 'efliciency and the desirability of basket making machinery of this particular character.

To these and other useful ends the invention consists in the matters hereinafter set forth and claimed, and shown in the accompanying drawings, in which,

Fig. 1 is a side elevation, partly in vert cal section, of portions of a machine embodying the rinciples of the invention. g

, Flg. 2 is an enlarged vertical section of the form upon which the basket is made, show- 36 ing the basket upside down andin vertical section.

Fig. 3 is a plan view of the auxiliary form that'is detachably supported on top of'the. main basket form.

40 Fig. 4 is a. vertical section'on line in Fig. 3. Fig. 5 is an enlarged,-fragmentary, hor zontal section of one side P01121011 of the basket form, showing the method of assemblingthe staves, in dottedlines, around the outside of the form.

bottom unitof the basket, showing the auxil-' iary form in dotted lines.

Fig. 7 is av side elevation of the baske t, upside down, in the position in whlch it is has a ring 3, as shown. The sides of the form are provided with stave holders 4' spaced apart a distance to position the staves and allow the staves to overlap each other a distance. The top hoop 5 of the basket is first placed in position on the form, against the ring 2, and the preformed bottom unit, comprising the inside bottom hoop 6 and the crossed slats 7, spaced apart as shown in Fig. 6 of the drawings, isv then placed upside down on the top'of the form.

Then the auxiliary form 8 is placed on top of the preformed bottom unit,'this auxiliary form being disk like and having its annular periphery shaped to fit snugly within the hoop Q of the preformed bottom unitk Po.- sitioning pins 9 are provided on thebottom of the auxiliary form, to extend through the openingsin the preformed bottom unit and the lower ends of these pins engage the holes 10, it will be seen, in the top wall of the main basket form. The staves are then as--.

stapled thereto,.by means of staples 14, 15

andlfi, or nails, or any other fastening devices can be used for t is pur ose.

Preferably thestaves and oopsare secured together by staples, as shown, and for;

"this purpose the machine is provided with staples 17, 18 and lgyof any suitable character, and operated in any suitable or desired manner, to insert the staples through the ba'sket' materials. .Thebasketform is rotated intermittently, it will be understood,

'byany suitable or desired means, until all the staples are driven, the basket being sta- Fig. 6 is a plan view of the preformed tionary during such sta le-inserting operation. In other words, t ree staples are inserted simultaneously,"through the top and bottom and middle hoops of the basket and 7 during this operation the basket and the form are stationary; but as soon as these staples are driven, the basket is then par tially rotated a distance to receive the next set of sta les. As stapling mechanism of this kind is old and well known, no further description thereof is necessary.

Thus, it will be seen that the method of making the basket involves the makin g of the preformed bottom unit first,by stap llng or otherwise securing the strips of sheet material 7 tothe top edge of the inside bottom hoop 6, and after this the basket is then fabricated around the said preformed bottom unit. This can be done by hand, but machinery is preferable, in view of the fact that staples are preferable to nails for commercial purposes. The staplers are, therefore provided with hoop guides 20, 21 and 22 to receive the hoop strips which are formed into the outside hoops 11, 12 and 13, these outside hoop strips being gradually bent around the basket as the latter rotates, bein fastened thereto-by the driving of the stapfias in the manner shown and described. Thus only the one set of staples 16 is necessary, for securing both the inside and outside bottom hoops in place, and to secure the staves 23 to the-hoops, preferably in overlapped relation, whereby the basket has practically straight and downwardly taperlng side walls, a flat bottom and a fiat top. The bottom isspringy and resilient and forms a bottom cushion for the basket, to cushion the load therein. The inner ends of the staples 14: and 15 are clinchedfon the rings'2, 3, while the inner ends of the staples 16 are clinched on the annular periphery of the auxiliary form 8. a

What I claim as my invention is:

1. In a machine for assembling bodies comprising hoops and staves ,with preformed dished bottom units consisting of hoops having the basket bottom forming materials secured to one edge thereof, comprising a support for the constituent parts 0 the basket body, a "member fitting within the hoop of the preformed dished bottom and adapted to abut one end of the support to retain the bottom in position for the fastening operation with the bottom forming material thereof disposed between said member and said support, whereby the fastening of staves and hoops to the preformed bottom serves to produce, a basket in which the bottom forming material is spaced from the corresponding end of'the completed basket, and means for inter-connecting said support and member for rotation together.

2. In a machine for assembling basket bodies comprising hoops and staves with preformed dished bottom units consisting of hoops having the basket bottom forming naterials secured to one edge thereof, comprising a support for the constituent parts of the basket body, and acylindrical member adapted to fit within the circular hoop of the preformed dished bottom and having basket.

means to interlock with said support to clamp the bottom forming material between said member and said support so that said member, said support and said bottom unit may rotate together, whereby the fastening of staves and hoops to the preformed bottom serves to produce a basket in which the bottom forming material is spaced from the corresponding end of the completed basket.

3. In a machine for assembling basket bodies comprising hoops and staves with preformed dished bottom units consisting of hoops having the basket bottom forming materials secured to one edge thereof, comprising an apertured frusto conical drum for receiving and supporting the constituent parts of the basket body, a member fittin within the hoop of the/preformed dishe bottom unit and having a stud thereon adapted to project into said aperture, to interlock said member and drum for rotation, and-to clamp said bottom forming material between said member and drum, and fastening means for securing, staves and hoops to the preformed bottom to produce a conical basket in which the bottom forming material isspaced from the corresponding end of the completed basket.

4. In a machine for assembling basket bodies comprising hoops and staves with preformed dished bottom units consisting of hoops having the basket bottom forming materials secured to one edge thereof, comprisinga support for the constituent parts of the basket body, and a freely movable member fitting within the hoop of the preformed dished bottom and adapted to be seated on one end of the support to retain the vbottom in position for the fastening operation with the bottom forming material thereof disposed between said member and said support, said member and preformed bottom being supported in operative position solely by said support, andmeans associated with said member and support for preventing accidental relative displacement thereof, whereby the fastening of staves and hoops to the preformed bottom serves to produce a basket in which the bottom forming material is spaced from the corresponding end of the completed basket.

5. In a machine for assembling basket bodies comprising hoops and staves with preformed dished bottom units consisting of hoops having the basket bottom forming materials secured to one edge thereof, comprising a support'for the constituent parts of the basket body, a freely movable member fitting within the hoop of the preformed dished bottom and adapted to'be seated on one end of the support to retain the bottom in position for the fastening operation with the bottom forming material thereof disposed between said member andsaid support, said member and preformed bottom being su ported in operative position solely by sai support, w stoves and hoops to the preformed bottom 5 serves to produce a basket in which the bottom forming material is spaced from the corresponding end of the completed basket,

ereby the fastening of and means ro'ect' throu h said preformed botto lh dnd s 'ving to connect said support and said member to prevent accidental relative displacement thereof.

Specification signed this 10th day of Aut 1927. gus EDWARD CRAIG. 

